1. Field of the invention
This invention relates, generally, to improvements in golf putters. More particularly, it relates to a device that is removably attachable to the striking face of a putter to change its characteristics.
2. Description of the prior art
The conventional wisdom concerning how hard a putter striking face should be has changed over the years. It was once thought that the harder the striking face, the better. Thus, striking faces were made with steel having a high Rockwell hardness.
As the thinking changed, some manufacturers introduced putters having bronze or aluminum striking faces. The softer striking face was thought to provide a better "feel" at the moment the face strikes the ball.
One inventor, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,422,638 to Tucker, even went so far as to introduce a putter having a striking face made of an elastomeric material.
Most golfers are reluctant to buy a special putter having an unusual striking face because of the expense of purchasing a new putter and because purchase of a new putter makes the prior purchase of a conventional putter a wasted expense. What is needed, then, is an inexpensive device that will enable a golfer to keep his or her old putters yet enable the modification of such putters so that they will have a softer putting face.
However, in view of the prior art when considered as a whole at the time the present invention was made, it was not obvious to those of ordinary skill in this art how such a breakthrough could be achieved.